PART I: PURPOSE: To develop better regimens for the treatment of experimental herpes simplex infections in vitro and in vivo. PROCEDURES: Following subcutaneous (sc) or intracerebral (ic) inoculation of suckling rats with type 1 (HSV1) or type 2 (HSV2) herpes simplex virus, animals are treated with selected antiherpetic drugs and results are compared with HSV-inoculated, non-treated littermates. Criteria used to evaluate drugs include mortality rates, incidence of lesions seen microscopically, and presence and titer of virus in the brain and eyes of selected animals. Companion antiviral studies will be performed in vitro using the plaque reduction technique in HSV-infected rat RN2-2 cells. The drug currently under evaluation is (E) 5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (BVDU), obtained from Dr. E. DeClercq, Leuven, Belgium (DeClercq et al: Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 76:2947, 1979). Lesions produced in the central nervous system and eye in rats inoculated sc with HSV1 are under evaluation using light and electron microscopy. WHOLE CORNEAL CULTURES: In collaboration with Dr. M.O. Creighton, Dept. of Biochemistry, whole corneal cultures have been maintained in vitro for 8 days. The technique used is a modification of the procedures described by Buck (Invest. Ophthal. Vis. Sci. 18:767-784, 1979). Primary epithelial cell cultures prepared from rabbit cornea will also be used in the in vitro studies. We plan to evaluate the antiviral effects of selected antiherpetic drugs on strains of both HSV1 and HSV2. Using this system, we plan to evaluate the antiviral effects of selected antiherpetic drugs. The efficacy of treatment will be evaluated by light microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and virus isolation and titration procedures. PART II: PURPOSE: To study the retinal changes in newborn rats inoculated intracerebrally with the HNT strain of measles virus. Attempts to demonstrate the virus (by hamster inoculation and immunofluorescent microscopy) in retinal lesions are still in progress.